Paleontology

NPS photo/Jenny McGuire

Ancient Life of Zion

Life on earth 270 million years ago was drastically, surprisingly, and wonderfully different from the life on our planet today, and Zion National Park's fossil resources give us a glimpse at creatures that once wandered the earth. The park's fossils and survey data represent a diverse array of ancient environments, including shallow marine, coastal, desert sand dunes, rivers, and lakes. Ranging from 270 million to 1,600 years old, fossil plants, animals, and tracks are available to scientists, educators, and park managers as a window to past life.

 

To discover more about specific Zion fossils, click on the links below.

The Changing Life in the Moenkopi	Dinosaur Tracks of the Moenave & Kayenta
Secrets of the Chinle	Navajo Trackways
Mystery Tooth	Marine Life of the Carmel
Fossil Fish of the Moenave	Lakebed Fossils

In 2012, a new plant fossil was discovered within the Moenave Formation in Zion. Learn more about this exciting fossil find!

Learn more about how fossils are made and how footprints become fossils.

Return to the Rock Layers page or the main Geology page.

 

Geology and Paleontology pages created with David Tarailo and Scott Ireland, interns with the NPS Geoscientists-in-the-Parks program, run in partnership with The Geological Society of America's GeoCorps America Program.